New forum established for sustainable
nuclear energy research

Energy consumption worldwide is likely to double
between 2000 and 2050, and nuclear energy will remain a key element in future
low-carbon energy systems. Europe has the largest nuclear industry in the world
and one third of its electricity comes from nuclear plants. To prepare for the
future and maintain European leadership in this sector, a Sustainable Nuclear
Energy Technology Platform is being launched in Brussels today, bringing
together researchers and industry to define and implement a Strategic Research
Agenda and corresponding Deployment Strategy. This Sustainable Nuclear Energy
Technology Platform will allow a new and fully integrated approach to research
in Europe, its launch being very timely as the Commission prepares a Strategic
Energy Technology Plan for the EU.

"For those countries that choose it, nuclear power will be a very
important part of their solution to security of supply and reduction of
greenhouse gases," said European Science and Research Commissioner, Janez
Potočnik. "It is clear that we need to address two important concerns
– ensuring that nuclear power is economically competitive and, more
importantly, our duty to make it as neutral as possible in environmental terms
and in terms of the legacy we leave future generations. The answer to both these
concerns can be found in research: innovation and the next generation of nuclear
power plants, with increased safety, efficiency and a significant reduction in
nuclear waste as well as sound ways of recycling or storing it."

The European Technology Platform brings together all nuclear energy
stakeholders to implement their vision of how the sector should develop in the
future, identifying the research needed to make that vision a reality. It will
provide expert advice and recommendations to the European Commission and
national governments to help define and concentrate the efforts and budgets on
priorities agreed at EU level. This will reinforce the European scientific base,
while fostering dialogue on key issues such as management of waste and safety
and protection of populations against radiological hazards, which are essential
to reassure the public at large that these issues are being addressed
appropriately.

The Technology Platform is being launched today at a conference, with
the participation of Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik
together with the Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Alain Bugat, Director
General of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).